Kinahan — On Irish Metal Mining. 287 



and Shanvans, N. W. of Manorhamilton, copper was mined prior 

 to 184,5 while lead was raised in the adjoining mine of Twigspark. 

 The lodes at Pollboy and Shanvans, although in the Metamorphie 

 rocks appear to have been of Carboniferous or of part Carboniferous 

 age ; as associated with the ores, " copper with a little lead," there 

 was Dolomyte. From the position of the lodes it may be suggested 

 that they are " contact lodes," at the junction of the Carboniferous 

 and the Metamorphie rocks, they belonging to the same class of 

 lodes as the great lode at Silvermines, Co. Tipperary. Along the 

 line of contact there ought to be other deposits not yet discovered. 

 The old attals and shafts prove early mining operations ; but 

 the date at which the lode wsa first woiked seems to be now un- 

 known. 



Limerick. 



To the south-east, coming in from the Co. Tipperary (a part of 

 Slieve Phelim) are Ordovician rocks, capped by Carboniferous Sand- 

 stones (Upper Old Bed) ; while the rest of the area is occupied by 

 limestone or other Carboniferous rocks. To the west there are Coal 

 Measures, a part of the West Munster, Coal-field ; while between 

 these hills and those of Slieve Phelim the plain is principally 

 occupied by the Carboniferous Limestone, but having associated with 

 it beds and intrudes of Volcanic rocks and a few outlying Sandstone 

 exposures. 



At Ballybrood there is a small patch of Coal Measure sur- 

 rounded by Volcanic rocks ; the latter possibly represent the ruined 

 walls of a Carboniferous Yolcano. 



As has been mentioned in the description of the Co. Cork, the 

 coals in the Co. Limerick are thin : formerly they were worked at 

 or near their outcrop ; but no deep trials has been satisfactory, the 

 coals proved, not to be sufficient in quantity or quality to pay for 

 deep workings. Iron ore, in the seventeenth and early part of the 

 eighteenth centuries seems to have been extensively worked, especi- 

 ally in the vicinity of the Shannon ; partly to supply the furnaces 

 near din and Loughill, and in part to be sent by boat up the 

 Shannon for the use of the furnaces and mills in the vicinity of 

 Lough Derg. 



In the Co. Limerick, more than elsewhere in Ireland, the 



